Inevitable
by rhanji
Summary: "I'm gonna go ahead and assume something's wrong?" Gretchen asked me, clicking on her light. "I-I mean..." Why was this so hard to get out? YES something was wrong. I was crying when I came home. Crying. I haven't cried since I was fourteen when Bruiser almost got put down. "Yeah." I finally sputtered out. "Yeah. Yeah something's really wrong." Spinelli/TJ. ON HIATUS
1. Late Nights and Rude Awakenings

**Man it has been so gotdang long since i've uploaded something on this website lmao. **

**But anyway. Tada! I finally decided to start putting stuff up again cause I find writing to be a nice lil outlet u know**

**I'm taking sort a different approach with this story though. Usually I plan my fics out to like every last detail but for this one I think I'm gonna just go with the flow and see where writing it takes me. So I'm getting on this ride with y'all this time :p. **

**This is basically a fic about Spinelli and TJ, who are now high school seniors and have come to the agreement that they wanted to be each others, "get it over with", per say. Dont worry man it'll make sense later on, I promise. **

**But anyway, heres what i got so far, I guess you could call this a prologue so read on my friends. **

**~ENJOY**

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"Come on come on come on..."

It had to be at least 2 a.m. I didn't know for sure because I didn't have a clock in my room, but I could tell because the neighbors' stupid schnauzer always started barking around this time of night. That little runt was lucky that he wasn't my main concern right now cause if he was, believe me, I would've gone over there and punted him into the fucking stratosphere by now.

But I didn't care about that stupid little dog right now. I didn't care that my mom forgot to feed Bruiser while I was gone and he nearly attacked me when I'd come back in less than an hour ago. Nothing could possibly take my attention away from what was currently freaking me the fuck out.

TJ.

And no, I don't mean that TJ _himself_ was messing me up, it was something he said to me. Something...really...really uncalled for.

There was probably a better word for it, but I really couldn't think straight right now.

Now I was just sitting here like an idiot, dialing Gretchen's number like five times every second waiting for her to just fucking pick up the phone already. I guess that at the time, I didn't really think about how it was 2 a.m. and that she was probably asleep like a normal person. But I really didn't care. I really just needed to talk to someone other than myself.

I swallowed hard and dialed Gretchen's number again, praying that she would just pick up this time.

It rang once, then twice, then three times. I was on the verge of hanging up and trying again before I heard the softest voice pick up on the other end.

"Spinelli?"

I swear to god I almost teared up when I heard her voice. There was no way I was gonna let her know I'd been crying though, so I cleared my throat and spoke up.

"Hey Gretch." I let out in a strained tone, trying to cover up the rawness of my throat. "What's up?"

I heard her move underneath her covers and yawn loudly. "Well. It's 2:13 a.m. What do most people do around this time of night Spinelli?"

I groaned and ran my free hand through my bangs. "Sorry-_sorry. _I forgot that you'd probably be sleeping by now."

She yawned again, and I think I heard her sit up out of bed. "It's fine. The dream I was having wasn't even that great anyway. I've had lunch with Einstein before."

I wanted to laugh at that because I knew she was joking with me, but I couldn't make it not come out strained. That was probably a really obvious sign to her that I was upset.

"I'm gonna go ahead and assume something's wrong?" Gretchen asked me, clicking on her light.

"I-I mean..."

Why was this so hard to get out? YES something was wrong. I was fucking_ crying _when I came home. Crying. I haven't cried since I was fourteen when Bruiser almost got put down.

"Yeah." I finally sputtered out. "Yeah. Yeah something's really wrong."

"Well. Are you gonna tell me what it is or do I have to weasle it out of you? Obviously its something pressing, otherwise I don't think you would've called me so late at night."

"Yeah yeah, I know." I cut her off. "It's just-I just-"

I knew I'd probably have to retell the entire story if this was gonna make any kind of sense to her, and I cannot stress how much I really did not want to fucking do that. I didn't wanna relive everything that had been happening for the past two months. I didn't wanna have to think about what TJ said to me earlier again.

"Spinelli? Are you okay?" Gretchen asked me. "You sound like you're crying."

Shit. Was I?

I lifted my hand to my face a touched my cheek, and low and behold, yep. I was crying alright, and I hadn't even noticed.

"Crap." I wiped my face and blinked until I felt my eyes dry up again. "Fuck. I just-ugh."

I knew the look Gretchen had on her face right now, I could feel it. She got that look when Vince was challenging her brainy-ness or when someone proved her wrong. It was a knowing kind of look, like she ultimately knew what was right about whatever they were talking about.

"Spinelli, does TJ have something to do with this?"

I felt my heart beating in my chest. "Y-yea. How'd you guess?"

"Well, there's only three people on the planet that I know of that can make you feel any other emotion than rash aggression." She counted off. "Your mom. Your dog." She paused. "And TJ Detweiler."

I wanted to flop down on my mattress and scream into my pillow. God...just hearing his _name_ right now just...

"Yeah, yeah Gretch, it's about TJ." I gripped my comforter. "Something...happened."

I know she still had that look on her face. "'Something' as in...?"

I bit my lip. "Something...really bad."

Gretchen went silent for a little bit, and it made my nerves stand on end. It sounded like she was moving under the covers again, getting up and moving across the room or something. I heard her socks shuffle across the floor, and her closet door open with that loud ass screech it always made every time you opened it. She had to have been quiet for like two minutes before I spoke up again.

"Gretch, please say something back. It makes me nervous when you go all quiet like that-"

"I'm coming over."

My eyes went a bit wide, and i could hear her keys jingling in the background. "Wait-what? You're coming over? Gretchen it's like two a.m. What if-"

"It's fine, Spinelli." She cut me off, shutting the door to her room. "I don't have anywhere pressing to be tomorrow and my parents were already asleep when I got in today. If they ask I'll just tell them that I decided to spend the night at your house."

"Are you sure? You really don't have to-"

"Yes I most certainly do." She interrupted again. "You think I'm just going to let my best friend since elementary school, a girl who hasn't cried since she was fourteen, sit alone in her bedroom sulking to herself about one of our friends at two in the morning? Absolutely not."

I breathed such a huge sigh of relief that I swear I felt a hundred pounds lighter. I fucking loved Gretchen. I didn't even have to ask her to come help me deal with my shit, she already knew to do it on her own.

My mom always went on and on about making sure that I had "genuine" friendship while I was in high school, and the way she explained it was always kind of confusing for me. She said stuff like, "make sure you've got a friend who's gonna let you borrow her hair tie even though she's havin a bad hair day" or "make sure you've got a friend who doesn't have to ask to know you're upset.", and I guess since I was like thirteen when she told me this it didn't really make that much sense. I already thought that I had those types of friends. I didn't know why I had to go out looking for more of them.

But I'm seventeen now and I completely understand what she meant. She meant a having a friend like Gretchen. Someone who had my back no matter what, and didn't judge me when I was being stupid or doing questionable things.

Someone who would fucking drive across town at two in the morning just to comfort their upset friend.

"Thanks, Gretch. You rock, really." I let a weak smile show up on my face, and wiped my eyes again.

"Not a problem at all." Gretchen replied, and I'm pretty sure I heard her car door shut. "Now, just give me approximately twenty minutes and I'll be right there. Just try and relax until then, alright?"

I nodded. "Alright."

The last thing I told her before we hung up was to make sure she texted me when she got here so I could come let her in. My doorbell was really loud and irritating, especially if someone rang it when the whole house was silent. It definitely would've woken my parents up and caused all this commotion that I really didn't need at the moment, so an "i'm here" signal was probably my best bet right now.

I put my phone down on my pillow and inhaled sharply. Now lets hope I could wait twenty minutes for her to get here without crying again.

Ugh. God, emotions really suck, don't they?

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**Yeah haha i didn't really proofread this so if there are mistakes i'm sorry about that. But, I got this. I think**

**So tell me what you think so far! I love feedback and love to hear people's ideas too. So just drop a review in that lil box below and tell me what u think! I really appreciate it!**

**Or just hit that favorite button, either one is cool with me B^) **

**Anyway, see yall later for now!**

**~DUECES**


	2. Snickerdoodles and Skype Calls

**Wow this is super random.**

**But I guess I just...out of the blue got the recess kick back in my system and finally felt like finishing this chapter for yall who wanted it. I might (no promises dont kill me) be updating this from time to time so be on the look out or let me know if you wanna see more! **

**But, here's chapter two of this finally, after a year, (I know i know, Im sorry!) **

**Still, enjoy! **

**~Read on**

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Fuck.

Fuck my stupid goddamn life.

I had a headache. I was still lying in my bed in the same position I was in an hour ago when Spinelli was here. I was still sitting here with no clothes on and the only thing covering me was the dingy old comforter that had been on my bed for ages.

I was still sitting here, slowly regretting everything that had happened in the past two months. Well, "regretting" might not have been the best word to describe what I was feeling. Whatever was currently weighing down on my shoulders was more along the lines of, "Oh god I literally might've just ruined one of the best friendships I've ever had because of something I could've waited to say later on at a better time."

Either way, I was really fucking screwed right now. Really, really fucking screwed.

The worst part of it all had to be that I'd meant what I'd said wholeheartedly. There wasn't a single part of me that didn't believe it was true, not even in the back of my mind.

I literally felt Spinelli cringe under my touch when I said that stupid little phrase to her, and from that exact moment I knew I'd made a mistake.

I had already said it though, and I couldn't take it back because then not only would I look like a complete asshole, but then I'd be lying too.

God _dammit_ why did Spinelli have to be so incredible? And why the hell did I just have to fully realize it now? Sure I've noticed before that she's an amazing athlete and literally one of the coolest people that I know, but I don't think I'd ever _really_ paid attention to how strong she was, not even just physically.

Socially, mentally, _emotionally_...

It was really incredible to watch once I became fully aware of it.

And I guess that was what started drawing me to her in more than just a physical way like we had agreed upon at first. Like, I guess I had always been close to Spinelli, but I don't know. Something after those two months of our jacked up "relationship" had begun I felt something stronger than just closeness. I mean, I felt "close" to Vince too.

What I felt when I was with Spinelli...that was intimacy.

I can't quite say the same for Spinelli however.

I wrenched my hands angrily in my hair at just the thought of it. My mind had that memory on a constant loop that was playing over and over and _over_ again behind my eyes and I just wanted to tear all my hair out. I've literally broken up with _plenty_ of girls before. Well, maybe not plenty, but enough to learn how to deal with the feeling of losing someone you care about.

Why was this fucking me up so much then? Why did I feel like walking into oncoming traffic would be a great idea right now?

I groaned loudly. My parents weren't home and they wouldn't be for a few days, so I didn't care how loud I was being. I had to get this out somehow.

Slowly, my eyes wandered over to my phone lying on the edge of my nightstand. I winced at the idea I'd gotten, because talking to someone was literally the last thing I wanted to do right now.

But still, somehow I found myself begrudgingly sitting up in bed and reaching over towards it to hesitantly bring it back to my lap.

'_...Fuck.'_

Vince might or might not be awake right now. He's either dead asleep, or wide awake on his laptop scrolling through endless amounts of websites looking for more sports scholarships to earn. He was always either one extreme and I never knew which one I was dealing with.

Nonetheless, I opened my messages and shot him a short, quick message. If he was awake, he'd reply immediately like he always did. Vince was a notoriously good texter and often prided himself over it. I didn't blame him either because I sucked at texting most times. I would either reply instantly or not at all unless it was something important, and that always pissed people off.

I read back over the text I'd sent.

"_Hey Vince you awake?"_

It was four goddamn words and yet my nerves were getting to me so much

A few seconds went by before I felt my phone vibrate in my lap and I snatched it up to read his reply.

"_**Yeah I am. Why what's up?"**_

I swallowed and hesitantly texted back.

"_Are you busy with something tho?" _

Two seconds went by, and he replied.

"_**I mean I'm baking cookies atm but I just threw them in the oven so I can talk."**_

I glanced over at my clock, confused. It was almost three a.m.

"_Do I even wanna ask?" _

"_**What? Coach Dadzilla has me on a strict protein-only diet and I'm dying man. He's dead asleep now so now's my only chance to sneak in some snickerdoodles." **_

I snickered. Mr. LaSalle was probably just as if not more pumped about Vince's try outs for Maynard U's fall football lineup for their incoming students. He apparently had turned into Sergeant-Dad when the opportunity had come up and wasn't giving Vince any room whatsoever to be out of shape for the audition. Vince was already in the _best_ shape of his life however, so I didn't really get all the fuss, but I still supported him either way.

But that aside, I stopped chuckling to myself and texted back.

"_Mr. LaSalle's really got you whipped huh?" _

"_**For now, but he'll let up once I wow those officials. Not even pressed about it." **_

Classic Vince for you; bottomless determination.

I was just about to respond when he'd beat me to it.

"_**But let's forget about that for now. You texted me at 3 a.m. I may be baking cookies but I know you're never awake this late. Somethin's bugging you, isn't it?" **_

I inhaled sharply. Vince was like a goddamn psychic, I swear.

"_Well we are quite the detective aren't we?" _

"_**Yeah, not to mention you're beating around the bush with answering my question so I know it's something heavy." **_

Damn, was I really that transparent?

I must have spent too long thinking about how to reply, because soon Vince shot me another message in the meantime.

"_**Look you started it. Just tell me what's up. I won't judge whatever it is. Tell old Uncle Vince what happened." **_

Even after reading that, I still couldn't piece my thoughts together into a coherent message. Nothing I was thinking of made sense when I'd typed it, so I just ended up erasing long drawn out messages explaining myself and letting my thumb hover over the "Send" button for almost three minutes.

Vince must have picked up on my hesitance and replied despite the wait.

"_**Better yet, get on skype. We can video call." **_

I furrowed my brows and look over at my laptop, which was strewn across the end of my bed.

"_Dude, why? It's 3 in the morning." _

"_**Because you're obviously having some trouble wording whatever it is you're trying to say to me via text so just call me and we can talk about it face to face."**_

That actually didn't sound like too much of a bad idea the more I thought about it. Maybe it would be easier for me to talk about this over video, and I definitely needed to get this off my chest before I tried to go to sleep tonight. If I could, that is.

"_Alright, if you say so." _

With that I tossed down my phone and leaned forward to lift my laptop into my lap. Within a few minutes I'd loaded up skype and was aimlessly waiting for Vince to come online.

Three minutes went by and then I heard that signature swooshing notification sound.

"**the next lebron is online"**

I snickered. His usernames always made me laugh.

No less than ten seconds passed before the skype call chime filled my bedroom and I quickly was face to face with best friend; him chomping on a snickerdoodle and me tiredly looking back into the webcam.

"Hey man." I spoke up lowly, lacking enthusiasm but still trying to sound content.

Vince wiped a few crumbs from his chin with his palm and smirked back. "'Hey man'? Is that really all you got to say Teej?"

I rolled my eyes as he chuckled. "Well obviously its not. Why are you being so loud? Didn't you say your parents were sleeping?"

Vince talked while swallowing his another bite of the cookie. "My dad sleeps like a coma patient and my mom takes two ambiens before she goes to bed at night. They're both out cold until at least nine. I could literally have a house party in my living room and they wouldn't even notice."

"A three a.m. secret house party at Vince's. Sounds like a pretty rad idea if you ask me."

We both shared a cackle before Vince finally ended it and spoke up again, this time much more focused.

"Alright dude, quit stalling. What's going on?"

And that's when my smile faded and an obvious flush of red nervousness washed across my entire face. I let out a nervous chuckle that didn't make Vince budge at all, in fact he just sat there in his kitchen chair giving me a knowing look.

"Teej. Come on. Tell me what's up."

"...Uh...well..."

He narrowed his eyes. "Wait a second, are you naked?"

"Dude! Invasive much?" I felt my chest heat up and shifted uncomfortably under the sheets covering me. I mean, I was, but that wasn't his business. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Why does it even matter?"

Vince scoffed. "Uh, because that tells me that you just got laid. The only time you sit around naked is after scoring."

I sneered back at him. "That's not true-"

"Oh please, TJ. I know you like the back of my hand." He tapped his temple with his index finger. "This baby right here is like a _vault_. I never forget anything anyone tells me. And I distinctly remember you mentioning that you go commando for a little while after game time so you can 'bask in the moment'."

See, this was the issue with telling Vince anything. He always remembered it. Even if it was something so insignificant that you yourself wouldn't remember it later on, he definitely would.

I groaned lowly and accepted defeat. "Alright, you got me there. Yeah...I did just...get laid."

A wide smile spread across Vince's face. "Ooh shit! C'mon, tell me who it was. Did you finally sleep with Ashley A. like everyone called it?"

My face went into a look of disbelief. Ashley A.? People were betting that I would sleep with _Ashley A._? She hated me, and I hated her! Where the hell were people getting that from?

"Hell no! Why the hell would I sleep with her? She's a horrible person!"

"She's hot though." Vince chimed in, wriggling his eyebrows.

I grimaced and rolled my eyes. "No. Vince. It wasn't her."

He pursed his lips at me, now looking annoyed with my reluctance to share any details on what I was talking about.

"Alright, then who was it then? Out with it man I wanna know!"

I groaned stingingly and finally decided to fess up.

"Spinelli."

At that moment, all I heard was the sound of a cookie hitting the hardwood surface of Vince's kitchen table. His eyes went wide as dinner plates as he leaned in closer to the computer screen.

"Are you fucking serious TJ?"

His tone kind of took me back, it was so low and severe compared to his usual upbeat demeanor. Even so, I ran my hand back up through my hair and nodded reluctantly, immediately being met with yet another shocked look from Vince.

"No way..." He muttered, covering his mouth slightly. "No, fucking way..." He looked up at me and grinned. "You two finally did it?! Really? After all these years of tension?"

"'Years of tension'?" I repeated back incredulously. I mean, I knew what he was talking about, but I just didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Yes, 'years of tension', Teej!" Vince went on. "You know exactly what I mean and so does any other person who's ever met you before."

I scoffed loudly, now looking bashfully around my room. "That's a broad statement to make."

"It isn't, but that's not the point right now."

Vince's eyes swiftly cut left and right before focusing back on me. "You fucked Spinelli. And I want details. Now."

"Vince, it's like three in the morning-"

"And you think I give a damn? I don't care of the rapture happens in literally a minute. I'm not going anywhere and neither are you until you ante up. I gotta hear the story behind this man."

"I'm Jewish."

"And I'm six foot one. Let's quit stating the obvious." He leaned in. "Start talking Detweiler."

I glanced back at the clock on my nightstand. 3:37 A.M. God I was gonna regret this in a couple hours when I had to get up for work. I'm not necessarily a _bad_ morning person, but 7 A.M. shifts still blindsided me every damn time. And as much as I wanted to just hang up and tell Vince I'd fill him in when I had more energy, I knew that would only kickstart him calling me every ten seconds until I picked up again. Vince definitely wasn't gonna let me rest until I told him what happened.

So, I exhaled heavily and ran my hand through my hair.

"You wanna hear about just tonight or everything?"

Vince furrowed his brows. "'Everything'? There's an 'everything' to this? You mean besides tonight?"

I nodded.

"The hell? Nah man you _gotta _start from the beginning now. I need the full Spinelli-TJ scoop ASAP."

I rolled my eyes. "...Fine. But shut up while I'm talking okay? This is gonna be a long story."

He bit off a huge chunk of a new cookie. "I got time."

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**Okay so now yall got a very very general idea of what happened between them, theres a lot more and hopefully yall can find out too. **

**Favorite and review please! Thank you!**

**~DUECES**


	3. Chocodiles and Running Rumors

**It's nearly five a.m. when I'm uploading this so boy lemme tell ya, I feel like crap. **

**Hey y'all! I finally finished this third chapter after like a week of staggeringly writing it so I'm happy I can finally upload it. You guys all gave me such nice feedback and it honestly really made my night ;u;. I tried to make sure I got this next chapter out within a week(ish) of the last one and i think I might shoot for that as a regular uploading schedule to keep myself going with this fic (i usually get most compelled to write at like 1 a.m. though so don't be surprised if early morning updates become a regular thing). **

**Thank you for all the nice reviews! I really do appreciate it!**

**Here's chapter three for you all! Enjoy!**

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"_Spinelli, Spinelli!" _

My eye twitched. Was something tickling my arm?

"_Spinelli!" _

There it was again. I must've left my window open or something and let a bug in by accident.

"SPINELLI! WAKE UP!"

My entire body jolted as I whipped my torso up from my bed, looking around wildly for whatever the hell had just shaken me so hard. I'd thought maybe Bruiser had gotten back inside somehow and managed to pounce on me hard enough to snap me awake. But all I saw when I finally came to was no one other than Gretchen, leaning over me with a concerned look on her face and a couple bags around one arm.

I blinked twice, then shook my head to fully wake myself up.

"Jesus fucking christ Gretch, you almost gave me a damn heart attack!"

She cracked a tiny smile when she finally saw me calm down, and went back over towards my bedroom door. "My apologies, I really tried to wake you as gently as I could before raising my voice, but you were in an incredibly deep state of REM when I walked in. The only way I _could _wake you was to throttle you a bit."

I yawned. "Don't worry about it. A little throttling's better than a water bucket any day."

Gretchen let out the lightest giggle and I smiled. God I was so glad to see her. We definitely had our ups and downs in our friendship but moments like this always reminded me exactly why we were friends in the first place. I don't think most average friends would drive across town at 2 A.M. just to make sure the other was okay.

God, I was turning more and more into my mom with every passing second, wasn't I?

"Yeesh, I don't even remember falling asleep." I said, stretching my arms above my head. "What time is it?"

"Approximately 3:37 A.M." Gretchen replied. "I know I'm late but my car wouldn't start when I left the house. I had to spend about thirty minutes fiddling with a few wires in the engine before I could even _kind of _get it to start."

My eyes fell to the bags in her arm. "And I see you made a couple pit stops along the way huh?"

"Walmart for a few snacks and then Jerry's for the essentials." Gretchen placed one of the bags on my desk before tossing what was in it across to me. "A Dr. Pepper, bag of Munchos, and some Chocodiles in case you were in need of some real comfort food."

It's sad that I damn near shed a tear when that pack of Chocodiles hit my mattress. Was it almost that time of the month again? It'd explain why I was so emotional over a fucking bag of chocolate reptiles.

"You're the best Gretch, you know that?" I ripped the package open with my teeth. "You reery didn haff to do 'iss"

Gretchen scoffed. "Of course I did. You, Ashley Funicello Spinelli, crying over a boy in the middle of the night? An absolute anomaly at its finest." She cracked the top on her own can of Sprite. "Times like this definitely call for maximum junk food."

"Can't argue with that." I popped a chocodile into my mouth and sighed heavily. It'd been a long ass night and this was somehow exactly what I'd needed.

"Hey-hold up." I swallowed. "How did you even get in my house? You were supposed to text me to let you in."

Gretchen's face slipped back into that concerned look she'd given me when I'd first woken up. "I did. And then I tried calling you but you still didn't pick up-and now I can see why-but I walked around your house to see if there was a spare key anywhere."

I raised an eyebrow. "There isn't."

"Yeah, I know that now." She finished. "I got in because you left your back door open, Spinelli."

I choked. "Are you serious?"

"I wouldn't be in here if I wasn't." Gretchen replied, now giving me a knowing look.

To be fair, I wasn't in the most focused state of mind when I'd come in two hours ago. I barely remembered to gather my shit before I left TJ's, hell, I picked up _his_ shirt instead of mine before I bolted. So between losing my damn virginity, getting the shit scared out of me, nearly breaking my neck with how fast I got out of TJ's, locking the door behind myself was at the bottom of the list.

Whoops...

"Listen, don't give me that look Gretchen." I started. "I've had a long ass night okay? Gimme a break."

Gretchen defensively put her hands up. "Point taken. Still terribly unsafe, but understood."

She shirked her sweater off her arms and went over to my coat rack. "Speaking of which, Spinelli."

I grimaced. _'Here we go...' _

"You wanna tell me what's going on with you and T.J.?"

And there it was.

I gulped. The answer was, no, no I _really _fucking didn't. Getting all this off my chest had started to seem like a good idea when I knew Gretchen was coming over; I'd thought maybe then it'd be easier to think without a constant clusterfuck of emotions swarming in my brain. But now, my mouth felt dry. I barely even knew where to start with anything that had happened. It was way too all over the place; way too confusing to condense into one consistent story.

Gretchen was already here though, and I had to say _something. _It was way too late for me to curl back up inside my bed sheets and tell her "not to worry about it".

"Come on, tell me what's really going on Spinelli. I may be intelligent but I can't read your mind."

'_Shit.' _

I was gonna have to ante up now, wasn't I? There was that cotton-mouth again, soaking up every ounce of confidence I had in my body. My eyes wandered down to the foil bag in my hands as I crunched it awkwardly underneath my fingers. She was still staring at me; I could feel it.

About ten seconds of silence went by.

"...Spinelli. Come on, I can't help you if you don't at least give me an idea-"

"We did it, Gretch."

The words shot through my teeth like I was spitting out nails. Gretchen stopped dead in her tracks, and I swore her eyes almost went as wide as those huge ass glasses she wore. My eyes shot up from my lap and I tried to maintain the little nerve I had left, swallowing hard.

She blinked. "...Wait, you-you and TJ? You mean you two-you know?"

"Yeah Gretch." I nodded. "We fucked."

She gave me an incredulous look. "As in, tonight? Earlier-tonight-you and TJ...engaged in sexual intercourse?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sì, Gretchen TJ e ho fatto sesso." She gave me a crazy look, and I snickered. "What? You weren't understanding English, so I thought maybe I'd try Italian."

Gretchen glowered at me, now walking quickly over towards the navy lounge chair by my windowsill. "Of course. Because now is definitely the time for your sardonic humor." She flopped down into the cushion. "I know that's a defense mechanism, Spinelli."

"Yeah yeah whatever." She was right, but I wasn't about to give her that satisfaction. "My point is, yeah. We did 'it'. That's what happened. Detweiler walked away with my virginity tonight. You happy?"

"...So, do you plan on elaborating or do we have to talk in circles all night?" Gretchen asked me. "Because I've got the time, believe me-"

"No-no..." I cut her off. As much as I didn't want to tell the truth, going back and forth like this was getting annoying. "I'll stop, alright. Just-pipe down and listen. This isn't gonna make sense unless I start from the beginning."

Gretchen raised an eyebrow. "The _beginning?_"

"What did I just say? Pipe down and I'll tell you." She lowered her brows in annoyance, but still kept quiet. I exhaled heavily. "Okay, so..you remember the Ashleys' New Year's Eve party back in December?"

* * *

"Did you text TJ? Vince? _Someone?_"

"I'm trying both their phones but I think they might be helping Coach Grimmel with the freshman class. I doubt they have them turned on."

"Well then what are we supposed to do? I've tried all my methods of relaxation and Spinelli's still about to blow her top!"

"I don't know! Hope Gretchen can talk some sense into her? I'm trained in dealing with panic attacks, not homicidal rampages!"

The two men jolted when the thunderous boom of metal stall doors being struck rang through the halls. Mikey and Gus lurched back from the girl's bathroom door, the larger scuttering behind the leaner in fear. This wasn't good, this wasn't good at all.

Mikey gulped, his hands holding tightly onto Gus' shoulders. "It doesn't sound like Gretchen's getting very far..."

"Well what'd you wanna go in after her and play peacemaker?" Gus asked harshly. "You had your chance Mikey, and it didn't work. Give her a minute. I'm sure they'll both walk out of there any second now calm and collected-"

"**I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL HER!" **

"...Or not.."

"Where is she?!" The black haired girl burst through the restroom door, quickly pushing past her two male friends to peer around the corner. "Where the _fuck _is that buck toothed, rat-faced Ronald McDonald looking bitch?! I know I saw her go this way!"

Mikey and Gus kept their distance from Spinelli, glancing worriedly at each other before the smaller replied. "We don't know where she went."

"Don't fucking lie to me!" Spinelli snapped, baring her teeth at an already frightened Gus. "You two were out here the whole damn time! I know you saw her!".

Mikey finally let go of Gus' shoulders, pattering hesitantly around the man to gently touch her arm. "Even if we did see her Spinelli, it's for both your and her best interest that we don't tell you."

Spinelli scoffed. "You think I give a _fuck _about Swinger Girl's best interest? It's in her 'best interest' that she come own up to her shit before I fucking pummel it out of her myself."

At that, Gretchen sighed as she followed after Spinelli out of the girls' restroom. Her patience was wearing thin, and trying to talk Spinelli out of a well-deserved "beat-down" was the metaphoric equivalent of trying to set water on fire.

"First of all, Spinelli, no one's called her 'Swinger Girl' since the fifth grade." Gretchen spoke, looking down at her shorter friend. "Her name is Francesca."

Spinelli narrowed her eyes. "You all seem to care a _whole _fuckin' lot about some bitch that's spreading lies about me."

"But you don't even know if it's her!" Gus interjected. "I mean, a lot of the things you listed before do point to her, but it could just be a red herring for the real culprit. You know how this school is with rumors."

The small teen's fist collided with the locker beside her, startling her friends. "I know a rat when I smell one, Gus."

Before any of the teens could respond, Spinelli swiftly darted around the nearest corner, leaving them to scramble after her at light speed. When Spinelli was mad, like, _seriously _mad, it was nearly impossible to stop her rampage; they'd all learned that years ago. Gretchen was her closest friend and was usually able to reason with her, but they both knew Spinelli's common sense went straight out the window if she was angry. Especially if it was by someone else's doing. The only person who'd actually proven successful at talking the girl down from the ledge in previous situations was T.J., and sometimes Vince, but mostly T.J.

Neither of whom were to be found.

"Jeez, she's pretty fast for someone with such short legs-"

"Can it Mikey!"

Spinelli stormed down the hall, her combat boots clunking like cinderblocks. She hung a sharp left at the Science Wing entryway and earned a terrified gasp out of the tallest girl. She knew exactly where Spinelli was headed. Francesca's curly mass of scarlet hair was visible through the window of the cafeteria doors, and she immediately knew this could end up going from bad to absolutely horrific.

"Spinelli! No! Do _not _go in there!"

Gretchen just barely gripped onto Spinelli's wrist before she could push open the doors. The smaller yanked her arm only to have the taller collide straight into her, frustrating her even more.

"Let go of me Gretchen." She gritted through her teeth.

"Spinelli, I absolutely cannot let you do this. If you go in there, I know it won't end well."

"Yeah, that's kind of the point. Now let go."

"I mean for _you." _Gretchen clarified, lowering her brows. "You know what'll happen if you get into another fight this year."

Spinelli snarled. "You know, normally I'd agree with you Gretch, but this rabbit-faced cunt has been fucking with me for two goddamn years. And I'm ending it. Now."

What happened next ended up as a blur in Spinelli's memory. Before any of them could react, Spinelli jerked free from Gretchen's grasp and pushed forward into the cafeteria. The doors swept aside and the loud roar of chattering high school students spilled out into the hall. Spinelli made it no more than two steps into the lunchroom before a rushing force from either side of her gripped tightly onto her arms and shoulders, quickly dragging her back in the opposite direction.

Spinelli hated being small for this exact reason. No matter how much brute strength she possessed, all it took was a person taller than her to completely overtake her tiny body. Two taller figures flanked her sides, holding tightly on to her limbs as they dragged her as far away from the cafeteria as they could..

"Who the f-T.J.? Vince? What the fuck you guys?!"

"Yeah, buenos dias to you too." Vince replied mockingly.

The remaining members of the gang quickly scuttered back to where T.J. and Vince had taken Spinelli, concerned looks adorning all of their faces.

"Oh thank God, you got our texts?" Gus asked.

"Yeah, like a literal minute ago." T.J. answered. "Coach Grimmel had us stocking the equipment room with new sports junk. It's a total dead zone; luckily Vince left to get water for a second or else you probably would've killed Francesca."

"Speaking of which," Vince interjected again, glancing at all of them. "What exactly is going on here again? What did Francesca even do to you-" Spinelli snarled and he corrected. "-This time?"

"According to Spinelli, she's been spreading rumors about her." Gus glanced at Gretchen before continuing. "Really...um..._bad_...rumors."

T.J. raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

Gretchen sighed. "Well, we've all heard something different, but it all centralizes around-"

"Me fucking the goddamn chemistry teacher!"

Vince grimaced. "Who? Mrs. Dawson?"

"_No_ you idiot! Dr. Wilkerson! The new one! Who just came in like two years ago!"

"The guy that looks like Ryan Reynolds?"

"YES HIM! WHO THE FUCK ELSE?!"

"I was just making sure! Jeez!" Vince drew back when Spinelli bucked at him. "Francesca said you did it with him?"

Spinelli scoffed. "Did it with him, blew him in the chemistry lab, had a threesome with him AND his wife! Take your damn pick cause there's plenty of bullshit to choose from!"

T.J. and Vince shared an uneasy glance before saying anything.

"So, two questions." T.J. held up his fingers. "One, how do you know it's her-"

"BECAUSE-"

"And two, even if it was, why would she even bother spreading rumors about you? Doesn't she have something better to do with her time?"

The smallest teen let out an annoyed chuckle, that same annoyed chuckle that always deeply concerned the rest of the gang whenever she did it.

"Oh, I'll tell you why. She's still mad about that Lawson bullshit from tenth grade, _that's _why!" Spinelli clenched her fists, now angrily pacing back and forth. "She's still mad that Lawson had a crush on _me _sophomore year and not her! She's literally hated me ever since the day he rejected her just to ask me out! The bitch has it out for me!"

It was a cringeworthy memory for all of them, in all honesty.

Spinelli had known bullshit was on the horizon the moment she'd gotten her schedule for that year. The rest of the gang hadn't immediately seen the issue, but Gus was the first to let out a solemn_ "Oh no..." _in realization when the girl angrily pointed to her third period slot. Spinelli had decided on being a student aide for Mr. Clemont's woodshop class that period; she liked him and he was one of the few teachers who didn't absolutely hate her in turn. Working with him to help the class seemed like it would be no problem.

That was, until she read the _other _name listed next to hers as an aide for that particular period.

"_**MOD 3: WOODWORKING 2- STUDENT AIDE; ASHLEY SPINELLI, IRVING LAWSON" **_

As much as Spinelli wanted to drop the slot and find something else in it's place, she'd gone through way too many backflips just to get it in the first place. So, she'd decided to simply suck it up and deal with probably the most aggravating person in the entire school, next to Randall that was.

What Spinelli didn't account for however was how much time she actually ended up having to spend with Lawson, running things across the school, carrying supplies to and from the wood lab, occasionally having to spark light conversation in order to _not _kill him everytime he came near her. She _definitely _didn't account for Lawson's odd not-such-an-asshole, strangely nervous behavior towards her to actually be an intense crush that he'd developed over time.

"That was such a weird time that year." Gus cringed at the memory. "Lawson was actually nice to you, and he always flirted with you too. It felt like we were watching The Twilight Zone or something."

Gretchen nodded in agreement. "Yeah, mortal enemies suddenly crushing on you definitely feels like something otherworldly."

"Okay! But he didn't have a crush on you guys! He had a crush on me!" Spinelli snapped. "I had to suffer through that! That was seven months of _my_ life I'll never get back!"

"It's so sad that Lawson rejected Francesca to ask you out." Mikey put in, solemnly shaking his head. "You did the same exact thing to him later that day."

T.J. snickered. "Yeah, karma sure is one hell of a bitch."

"Yeah, and Franny's about to get her visit from karma if you both-fucking-LET GO OF ME!"

Spinelli struggled underneath their grip, but both Vince and T.J. were admittedly pretty strong in comparison to years ago. They'd sprung up like trees and actually gained some real muscle tone, (save T.J. holding onto some baby fat) and this at the most felt like trying to subdue a small, tantruming child.

Vince shook his head. "No can do. As much as she probably deserves it, we can't let you get suspended again Spinelli."

"That's what I was trying to tell her!" Gretchen added in. "This'll be your third time this year. If you miss that many days again, you won't graduate."

"I _might _not graduate. That's what Principal Simmons said." Spinelli corrected. "And if it means I get to knock Swinger Girl's rabbit teeth out, then I'm willing to take that risk."

Spinelli bucked forward yet again, only to have Vince and T.J. yank her back in the opposite direction.

"She's not worth it, Spinelli." T.J. told her, looking down at his friend. "Even if she does get what's coming to her, she gets a diploma and you don't. You'd be the real loser here."

The girl gritted her teeth. She hated when this happened. It was better on a larger scale, but being talked out of a well-deserved beatdown when she was already so angry felt like rampage blueballs.

Spinelli lowered her brows and finally relaxed under her friend's grip. "You have a point."

"Glad we see eye to eye again." He finished, signaling Vince to release his grip as well. "Well, not quite eye to eye.."

Spinelli glared up at him as the gang chuckled. "Keep it up with the short jokes and you're next Detweiler."

He grinned. "I'll take my chances."

The group of friends gradually filed into line as they continued back towards the science wing. It had been silent for a few moments before Vince decided to speak up.

"Sooo, now that's over with, let's talk about what's really important." He turned towards the rest of them, a devious look now adorning his face. "Who's trying to go to the Ashleys' New Year's Eve party tomorrow? Any takers? Hmm?"

The five of them looked uneasily at one another, only giving light shrugs and wiggly so-so hand gestures in response. The sports-pro groaned deeply.

"Come on! No one?"

"I have my internship Saturday morning." Gretchen replied. "I doubt partying hard the night before would be good for my productivity."

Vince's eyes went left. "Mikey? Gus?"

"My dad wants me up at five for combat training." Gus responded.

Mikey shrugged. "To be honest, house parties just aren't really my scene. Sorry Vince, but I'm sure T.J. or Spinelli could go with you."

The teen whipped around to stare willfully at them. "Well? Is Mikey lying to me Teej?"

T.J. looked towards the ceiling. "I don't know man. I thought about it, but I don't know if I'll feel up to it after work."

Vince scoffed. "But are you really willing to pass up such a golden opportunity to get absolutely wasted?"

The husky teen shrugged again, only earning an annoyed groan out of his friend.

"Come onnnn. Everyone knows that the Ashleys' throw the _best _house parties. The freakin' Weeknd performed at one of them! You can't tell me neither of you feel like getting fucked up tomorrow." Vince urged. "And don't you dare lie to me and tell me you guys got something to do Saturday morning. I'll drag you two there if I have to."

"Maybe I'm just not to keen on going to one of the Ashleys' houses when we fucking hate each other." Spinelli replied, glowering at him.

"Are you kidding me? Spinelli, Ashley A. lives in a damn villa mansion! You probably wouldn't even _see _her with all the people that'll be there."

"The Ashleys' are pretty hardcore partiers, too." Gus added. "They'd probably be too drunk to even start anything with you."

"See! Gus agrees with me." Vince beamed. "Come on, you guys can't leave me hanging like this. I'd go with you both if you needed a third."

Spinelli lowered her brows. "Yeah nice try with the guilt trip thing, but I think I'll pa-"

"Well, I mean..." T.J. interrupted, earning an annoyed glance from the girl. "It could be fun. And free booze is always a plus."

"Yes! That's what I'm saying!" Vince gripped onto his friend's shoulders. "Come on Spinelli. T.J.'s on board. Come on. Come on. _Come onnn." _

Spinelli shook his hands from her body. "Alright! If it means you'll shut up, then fine. I'll go. But only cause I've got nothing better to do."

Vince grinned from ear to ear. "Oh hell yeah. Spinelli's a fun drunk. This is gonna be great."

The gang erupted in laughter as the smallest of them scowled in response. "Hey! What the hell is that supposed to mean?! Hey! Tell me! Vince!"

* * *

"The Ashley's party?" Vince asked. "Yeah I remember that. It was lit as hell."

T.J. rolled his eyes. "Yeah, for you maybe. I saw you like once the entire night."

The sports-pro snickered. "My bad man. I was pretty turnt. But why? What happened there?"

T.J. sighed, running his hands stressfully through his mussed brown hair. "Well, that was the first place we actually..._talked_...about doing it."

Vince raised an eyebrow. "With each other?"

"Not exactly...kinda...I-just let me explain, okay?"

* * *

***blows fanfare* **

**Well, that was all for chapter 3, it was more so of a last introductory chapter before things really got moving, so I promise more things are to come in the next few chapters. **

**ALSO! I draw! I did a few doodles of the recess gang as older teens that are linked in my profile if you wanna check them out as well! Thanks you guys! **

**Review and tell me what you think :D!**

**~DUECES**


	4. Apple Ciroc and Maple Beer

**Hey there everyone! Finally uploading chapter 4 (I promise I didn't forget!)**

**I'm really going to aim to keep up with the friday/saturdayish schedj, things just got a little chaotic last weekend and it set me back a bit with writing, but I'm finally glad I got this chapter done cause it's finally getting into things :D **

**Well, here's chapter four of Inevitable and I hope yall all enjoy it!**

**Thank you!**

* * *

"No no no, no way Gretch, you're wrong."

"No I'm not! The absolute best part of that ordeal was when Lawson confronted her!"

I was laughing so hard I'm not even sure how I got the words out. Gretchen was nearly wheezing in my lounge chair. Everytime she laughed this hard she started snorting at some point, and that only made melose my shit even more.

I shook my head, wiping away the Dr. Pepper that had dribbled down my chin in the commotion. "Nah Gretch. The absolute _best _part of getting back at Franny was the look on her face when she saw me later that day. GOD I would pay money to see that shit again."

I cupped my hands around my eyes, mimicking her giant glasses as my jaw dropped open. "'Sp-Sp-Spinelli-how could you!'"

Gretchen burst out laughing again, falling back against the chair as the can of Sprite in her hand slipped from her fingers. Everything came to a halt when it hit my bedroom floor with a loud "CLANK". Sprite spurted out wildly and nearly hit my bed sheets before spilling out entirely onto the wood.

"Oh crap-I wasn't even paying attention." Gretchen shot up from her spot and snatched the can from the ground so quickly I'm not even sure I saw her do it. She was scrambling for something, and I figured it was probably something to wipe the mess up with before it got any worse.

I waved my hand in the air and shooed her back. "Dude, relax. It's fine."

I palmed at my bed for a bit before I finally felt a stray towel lying on the edge of it and tossed it onto the floor. "There, problem solved."

Gretchen gave me that knowing look again. I shrugged and sipped on my soda. To be honest, the only person who really cared about keeping shit clean in this house was my mom. It was almost 4 A.M. though, and she was too knocked out to come up here and tell me to clean it up properly.

Gretchen went back over to the chair and flopped back down, freeing her hair from the tight ponytail she always put it in before bed. She yawned and lazily looked back to me. "Wow, all that commotion almost made me lose track of our conversation."

I furrowed my brows. "Oh shit, yeah...uh...where was I again?"

"The Ashleys' party in December." Gretchen answered. "Right at the part where T.J. picked you up that night."

"Oh yeah." I glowered. "So, yeah. Like I was saying, I was waiting for T.J. in my room right..."

* * *

"MA!"

Clothes were strewn everywhere, Spinelli had knocked nearly every flat surface in her room clean, and she was _this _close to turning her mattress over.

"_MA!" _

The girl ripped her black rug up from the floor, shaking it wildly in hopes of finding what she was looking for. Pennies and a few loose bobbypins clattered to the ground with no actual sign of the missing object. She was going from mildly annoyed to completely and 100% frustrated. Why did she always have to lose something she needed right before she was about to leave?

"Ugh!_ MAAAA! _MA-"

"I'm right here Pookie, good lord."

Spinelli nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice. She whipped her head around at near light speed as her mother leaned nonchalantly against her doorframe, pink patterned pajamas already on and her greying brown hair tied in a frizzy high bun. Spinelli swallowed; she'd forgotten that it was almost 10 P.M., and that normal people at this hour were (if not staying up for the new year) usually preparing to go to sleep.

"In the mood for some late night redecorating huh?" Flo joked, gesturing towards her daughter's room.

Spinelli scowled. "Hilarious Ma." She looked towards the carpet, eyeing the space where her rug had been. "I'm looking for my phone. Have you seen it? I know I had it when I came in the house earlier."

Flo pouted. "Did you leave it in the laundry room when you were washing clothes earlier? Or maybe it's in one of the bathrooms. You know how you like to sit on the toilet for twenty minutes straight with it-"

"Yeah I know Ma." Spinelli interjected irritably. "I looked in all of them already. It's not there."

"Well, I got nothing then. Sorry Pookie." Flo answered apologetically. "Why do you need it so bad? Are you going out tonight?"

Spinelli rolled her eyes. "Nah Ma, I just got fully dressed and put on shoes to switch things up before I went to bed."

"I was just asking, sweetheart. Relax." Her mother chuckled. "Where are you headed to? One of your friends' houses for New Years?"

"Sorta." Spinelli replied shortly. "There's this uh...party going on in Mottwood tonight. Vince and T.J. wanted me to go. I'll probably try and bail early though."

At that, Flo narrowed her eyes and slowly looked up and down her daughter's figure. She tilted her head and brought her hand to her chin, pursing her lips before saying anything. "You're wearing_ that_ to a party?"

Spinelli looked down. "What's wrong with what I have on?"

Whenever Spinelli got dressed for any occasion, she always asked herself two questions.

1\. "Am I going somewhere important?"

2\. "Is there anyone I need to impress?"

In this case, the answer to both of those questions was a whopping "Hell no.", so the plain black tee and matching black jeans she had on seemed to work just fine for this occasion.

Flo shook her head. "Nothing! Nothing's wrong with it. I just thought maybe you would've worn something a little more...festive? It's a little plain for New Year's."

Spinelli snorted. "Sorry Ma, I was gonna go as Baby New Year but my diaper's at the cleaners."

Flo's daughter couldn't help but snicker at her own joke, slinging her half empty backpack over her shoulder as her mother rolled her eyes in the most affectionate way. "You know Pookie, you got such a nice figure when you started getting older but you always cover it up with such baggy clothes. Be proud of yourself hun, your father and I gave you that body!" Flo looked upward. "Well your hips mostly from _me _actually-"

"MA." Spinelli interrupted her mother as she slipped her orange beanie over her shoulder length hair. "I never said I wasn't proud of it I just-these clothes are comfort-you know what I'm pretty certain Teej and Vince are outside by now so I should probably go-"

"Oh you were waiting for them to pick you up? I thought you were driving sweetie!" Flo admitted. "I thought that was our neighbor Johnny's car. T.J.'s truck's been sitting across the street since 10."

Scrambling, Spinelli felt for her phone one last time before irritably realizing she'd had it on her the entire time. Flo smirked.

"Always check your bra first, sweetie."

"Yeah yeah."

The girl glanced in the mirror one last time before slipping past her mother and down the hall. She had no idea what time it was, no idea how long T.J. and Vince had been waiting for her, and no actual idea where or how far away Ashley A's mansion was. This night was already leaving the station with a stumbling start.

"Have a good time Pookie!" Her mother called from her room. "Don't stay out too late!"

Spinelli unlocked the front door. "Believe me Ma, I won't."

The heavy red wood slammed shut behind her as she pulled her orange Orioles jacket onto her shoulders. It was surprisingly warm for this time of year. Typically in Pittsburgh December temperatures averaged out around "so cold my fingertips are actually numb", but the gang only found themselves needing maybe a few layers and an average sized coat to brave the current 45 degree weather.

Spinelli's eyes narrowed as she started out into the street, eyeing T.J.'s SUV intensely under the lone streetlamp. Something didn't seem right. She could just barely make out her friend's figures through what looked like a thick layer of fog past the glass. Sure she knew the Detweilers' had had the truck's windows tinted years ago, but they weren't _opaque_.

Something definitelywasn't right...

The moment she'd seen the faintest orange glow in the fog, she knew.

"Hey!"

She saw T.J.'s figure jump as she banged on the driver's side window. The brown-haired man whipped his head around and fumbled for the "unlock" button along his keys. Spinelli slid back to the backseat door, forcefully yanking it open as a plume of white, pungent smoke poured out of the car.

"Really you guys?!" She waved her arms in the air. "You couldn't have waited until _after _we were-oh I don't know-_not _right in front of my fucking house?!"

'Vince let out a deep hack as he turned towards the backseat. "Blame-*cough*-yourself-*cough*." He choked out. "You were-*cough*-taking too long."

Spinelli squinted at the glowing time on the truck's dashboard. 10:27 P.M. when they'd initially agreed on 10 P.M. was admittedly pretty late.

"I couldn't find my phone, okay? I lost track of time looking for it." She stated. "Why didn't you just knock on the door?"

"See, that's what I said!" Vince agreed. "But no, T.J. was all, 'nooo, her parents might be asleep, blah blah blah'."

"It's New Year's Eve. Who isn't awake right now?"

"_Exactly!"_

"Okay-*cough*-okay! I get it guys, jeez." T.J. cut them both off, smoke pouring from his lips as he spoke. "We should've come in and got you earlier. But we didn't, and it's already 10:30, so let's just get going alright?"

Spinelli tossed her backpack across the seat before folding her arms across her chest. "I really can't believe you guys started without me." The small teen smacked at T.J.'s shoulder. "Gimme that!"

"Okay! Yeesh." The taller teen answered, passing the lit blunt over his shoulder. "Go easy. Whatever Francis sold me was some strong shit."

"Francis' weed is always on a different level." The girl brought the rolled paper to her lips. "That's why I say, don't buy from him unless you really wanna have a good time."

"Speaking of a good time," Vince spoke up. "Why don't we get going already. It's like an hour into the party so you know it's gonna be awesome when we get there."

Spinelli rolled her eyes. "It's funny how you're so thoroughly convinced that this is going to be fun, even with the four wicked witches hosting the damn thing."

"Spinelli, any party with good food and vodka is a _guaranteed _fun time." .

"You're starting to sound like my grandma, Vince." T.J. joined Spinelli in laughter at her joke, only making Vince pout irritably.

"Yeah well, Grandma Vince is hungry as hell. Drive Teej."

Vince had taken it upon himself to shift the truck into drive, grinning eagerly at his best friend. T.J. rolled his eyes and cautiously pulled away from Spinelli's neighbor's house. This was already going to be a hell of night; he could feel it.

* * *

Now, the gang new how popular the Ashleys were. Of course they were nearly deities at Thaddeus T. Third V. high school,_ everyone_ knew that. Ashley T. had complete dominion over the school's theatre department; if there was any upcoming production coming to the school's stage, everyone immediately knew she would have one of the leading roles. Ashley B. was head of the school's debate team, and was probably the most "scholarly" of the four. She and Ashley Q. hung close under Ashley A.'s direction, which for clarification, had never ceased to be a hungry tirade for popularity and power.

However, it somehow always slipped their minds how well known the Ashleys were in Washington County in general. Ashley A. had made it her duty to follow in her mother's footsteps as a celebrity publicist and make sure that The Ashleys made strong connections to the "popular kids" at other high schools. Thus, putting them at the top of not only Triple T's food chain, but pretty much making them among one of the most popular groups among the thousands of teens in Washington County.

The gang thought it was bullshit, but that was how popularity worked. It was a pyramid that took skill and connections to climb. And judging by just how many high school students were nearly spilling out of Ashley A.'s gigantic villa mansion, the Ashleys were _definitely _at the top of that pyramid.

Every time Spinelli even considered going to a house party, she was almost immediately reminded why she hated them so much.

At least three people had spilled something on her that night. The first two times, it was purely by accident and that person not paying attention to where they were going. The third time, she'd somehow staggeredly wandered into a gathering of sophomore students struggling to open the cork on a fresh bottle of Apple Ciroc. The smallest one of them all had finally managed to pop the bottle and send the cork flying right across their circle, straight into Spinelli's jaw.

Normally, she would've lunged immediately at the person who was responsible and punched their goddamn lights out. But Spinelli knew she was _way _too inebriated to hit anything with even some amount of accuracy. She wasn't too drunk, she'd had maybe a shot or two when Vince and T.J. were still with her and not lost in the sea of intoxicated teenagers that was this party. It was mostly the few hits from the blunt she'd selfishly finished early that were taking the biggest toll on her motor skills. T.J. wasn't lying when he'd said Francis' weed was on some other level. She'd only taken maybe four or five hits and what normally gave her a floating sensation nearly made her feel like she was on a different goddamn planet.

The small girl felt herself for her phone.

'_To: Vince, Teej: Where are you guys? I can't even see anything past this crowd.' _

She feverishly typed away at the message, hoping that at least one of them would respond within a reasonable amount of time. If she knew anything Vince was more than likely somewhere in the middle of the jumping cesspool of teenagers that was Ashley A.'s living room. He took the term "party animal" to an entirely different level, especially when all that had been playing for the past hour had been nothing other than his favorite songs.

Somehow Spinelli had found herself walking straight into one of the marble pillars that shot up across the mansion's floor, stumbling backward as she nearly collided with the ground. A pair of large hands managed to wrap around her shoulders before her body hit the floor. The girl jumped at the sudden contact, preparing to sucker punch yet _another _random guy who'd decided to get handsy with the wrong girl.

"Easy there, Ash!" Spinelli blinked. She recognized the voice almost immediately and whipped around at light speed to confirm her suspicions.

"Holy shit." Her eyes darted up the 6'3 figure towering over her. "_Bob?_"

Spinelli and Bob weren't exactly close friends in high school, but they had developed somewhat of a liking towards one another somewhere during Spinelli's sophomore year when they'd both somehow ended up in the same, strange weekly counseling schedule. Whenever students became too much of a problem at Triple T., they were usually delegated to the counseling office to handle that student's particular situation. Spinelli obviously, had quite a few hang ups with getting into fights during school. Which to the principal, read as "Anger management issues in need of serious specialized attention". Bob, although temperamental, still had a strong grip on his anger. It was his ruthless vengefulness that got him in trouble most times._ Especially_ when one of those times happened to be a revenge attack on Principal Simmons for confiscating his cellphone during class.

So, once a week for nearly fifteen weeks out of the year, Spinelli and Bob left their lunch period together, and somehow found random things to chatter on about until their group session with the counselor. It was a strange and unexpected way to build a friendship, but it had still happened.

Robert Goodall grinned down at the smaller teen in front of him, just barely making out her figure against the sporadically glowing lights of the party. Spinelli squinted. He was still wearing that musty old Nicks baseball cap that he'd been wearing since literally the ninth grade. He still had on the oversized, dingy hockey jersey over a plain black tee and basic ripped jeans like he'd usually wore when he'd still gone to Triple T.

And most of all, he was still _ugly. _

"In the flesh." The alum lifted his hat and smoothed over his messy black hair. "How's it hangin' shortstack?"

"Uh...fine?" Spinelli answered, still dumfounded. "Why the hell are you here dude? Shouldn't you be in Boston?"

Bob snickered. "My college is on winter break Ashley. You know, like most students right now? Shouldn't you guys be too?"

At that, the smaller girl rolled her eyes. "We were. For like, a week." She answered. "The county couldn't afford to pay the teachers extra for the vacation so they made us come back before New Years."

"Yikes. That really bites." The taller slid around beside the girl, snaking his arm around her waist. "I'm off until mid January. Gives me plenty of time to reconnect with my old, loyal subjects."

Spinelli snickered. "Watch it Bobby. You may be a foot taller than me but I'll still knock your lights out."

Bob nodded approvingly. "Noted. I accept the challenge, but noted."

The two flinched as the song rapidly changed from a midtempo pop song to a loud, thunderous rap beat.

"So a better question is, why are you here, huh?" The man brought an open beer bottle to his lips. "Don't you hate parties like this?"

"Yeah, I do actually." She replied irritably. "Vince dragged me and T.J. here. I haven't seen either one of them all goddamn night though."

The taller of the two narrowed his eyes. "I haven't seen Vince anywhere either. But then again, there has to be at least 300 people here..."

Spinelli's eyes darted up. "So you've seen T.J.?"

Bob grimaced. She knew he still wasn't all that fond of T.J. and hadn't been for a while, but she still at least needed to locate her ride home.

"I thought I saw him heading towards the balcony upstairs. But it was dark, so I'm not sure."

The smaller shook the man's arm from around her torso and turned towards what looked like a staircase underneath the room's chandelier. "That's still something. I need to find his ass before he gets too drunk to drive."

"I got your back if he is." Bob's hand kindly tightened around her wrist before letting her slip towards the stairs. "Just text me if you need a ride! You still have my number right?"

At this point, the music was getting louder and she knew he wouldn't be able to hear her response over the noise. So, she simply gave him a thumbs up before hurrying up the winding staircase and into the upper level of the mansion.

For once out of the entire night, Spinelli could finally hear herself think. She let out a heavy sigh as her body relaxed. She was starting to think that spending much more time in the heart of the party was going to end in her going deaf. But, the music's volume decreased significantly with the passing floor and now she could finally focus on finding T.J.

There weren't many kids up here, but there were a few throngs of couples who'd escaped the intensity of the party to make out in peace. She grimaced at the sight and kept her head down as she followed the glow of the balcony lights pouring into the hall. There were so many other places they could've gone to suck face, at least in her opinion.

For a split second, Spinelli thought she'd seen Francesca's curly red mass of hair as she passed and almost lunged at full speed. It however just turned out to be some scrawny junior gripping a little too closely onto her boyfriend's chest as they lip locked. She rolled her eyes and continued forward

The lights on the mansion's balcony were pretty when Spinelli finally saw them. A few orange lanterns hung from the rafters of the large space and cast a haunting warm glow on everything below it. She squinted as her face met the glass. There was definitely someone sitting outside. It was dim, but Spinelli still always knew T.J.'s signature red hat when she saw it.

"You mean to tell me I've been stumbling through a cesspool of sweaty teenagers for an hour and a half only to find your ass chilling out here?"

Spinelli's voice made T.J. yelp in surprise, and that subsequently made her burst out in laughter. She cackled as her friend turned around in his seat, narrowing his eyes as she leaned against glass.

"Surprise, you found me."

The girl glanced towards the open beer bottle in her friend's hand. "What's wrong? Party too wild for ya?"

He nodded. "Yeah, a little. I couldn't even hear myself think." T.J. brought the bottle to his lips. "I mean I don't hate parties like you, but jeez. I thought I was gonna go deaf in there."

"Ugh, me too." She agreed. "It's way too crowded in there. I swear if another dude tries to grab my ass tonight you're gonna have to bail me out of jail."

T.J. snorted and covered his mouth. The girl grinned. Catching him off guard with a joke was always the best way to make T.J. laugh.

"Yeah, I just needed some fresh, 45 degree air." He glanced back and gestured to the olive colored chair across from him. "Care to join me, Madame fist?"

Spinelli gently closed the glass door behind her, her boots scuffing along the tile until she plopped down in the comfortably plush chair. For once in the entire night, she felt her body relax. She may have hated Ashley A. but at least her house was pretty comfortable.

"Hey, Madame Fist is on vacation, remember?" She clarified. "According to you guys an impromptu visit from her would be," She mimicked Gretchen's voice. "_'Most disastrous'_."

T.J. snorted yet again, covering his mouth slightly. "Dude, stop. Your impressions of us are getting a little too good."

Spinelli grinned. "No wait, I can do Mikey better-" She cleared her throat, swiftly pulling her orange cap off her head to muss her black hair into a messy, Mikey-like style. "_'But, Spinelli, you mustn't let your anger get the best of you! It'll only lead to nothing but pure catastrophe!'" _

T.J. couldn't hold back his laughter at that one, leaning back against the lounge chair and holding his chest. "You're gonna kill me with these Spinelli."

"That's the plan." She replied deviously. "Take out the head guy in charge and become the new leader of the Third Street Gang."

The man held up a horizontal hand. "Sorry, but the 'Leader of the Gang' position requires you to be at least five feet tall before you can be considered for it-ow!"

The girl had playfully punched him in the arm. "First of all, I'm five _three,_ so fuck off." She started. "And second of all, what makes you think I couldn't take your teddy-bear ass down a notch? We all already know I can still kick your butt-"

"That was a suckerpunch and totally unfair on my part." T.J. cut her off, pointing knowingly. "If I'd had any idea Madame Fist was about to come knocking on my doorstep I could've had you pinned in ten seconds flat. Easy."

Spinelli scoffed. "Is that a challenge? _Jasper?_"

"Not in the least." He chuckled. "I'm way too wiped out to put up a decent fight."

The smaller girl rolled her eyes, slumping back in her chair as she folded her arms across her chest. "Yeah, I know what you mean." She glanced back. "This bullshit with Franny really put a damper on my whole damn day. You know how long it's gonna take for those rumors to clear up?"

"Eh, I'd give it two weeks." T.J. shrugged. "Sure 'Spinelli the Class Vixen' is the headline right now. But it's Triple T. we're talking about here. It's only a matter of time before everyone finds something else juicy enough to obsess over."

"You have a point there, Teej." She sighed, blowing her swooping bang out of her eyes. "This whole thing was so stupid, you know? I was mad as hell earlier, but when I finally got home and thought about it, who would _actually _ believe some bullshit lie like Franny told?"

T.J. furrowed his brows. "You mean you doing it with Dr. Wilkerson?"

She scoffed. "_Yeah. _Like, honestly, do I even look like the type of innocent high school girl he'd wanna have a secret affair with? Last time I checked there were plenty of pretty blonde cheerleaders ripe for the picking."

The look that appeared on T.J.'s face sent a wave of confusion down Spinellli's spine. His eyes were narrowed and his mouth was slightly open, almost as if he was attempting to respond, but couldn't quite find the right words.

"...What?" The girl spoke up. "What's with that weird look?"

He hesitated. "I mean...don't take this the wrong way, but from a totally _objective _point of view...it's..._kinda _believable."

Spinelli's eyes widened and her arm darted out to forcefully smack her friend on the shoulder. "Are you trying to call me a slut or something?"

T.J. shook his head. "No! No-not at all-listen." He inhaled. "What I mean is that-well. You're talking about yourself as if you're some kind of ugly untouchable goblin or something when you're not."

Spinelli lowered her brows. "Come again?"

The man rolled his eyes. "You're _attractive, _Spinelli. It's not a completely ludicrous rumor because you're a pretty girl. Just like the other 'pretty blonde cheerleaders' you're talking about."

If it weren't for the vodka coursing through her veins, Spinelli would've sworn that she'd just blushed. Hearing something like this out of T.J. was just...odd. And not odd in the way that T.J. had never complimented her, but odd in it's delivery; it's timing. Sitting on the balcony of a villa mansion, watching the dim moonlight mix with the shadowy glow of the lanterns sitting above them;

It almost felt...

Romantic?

Spinelli shook her head. They were definitely both drunk.

"Uh, thanks. I guess." The girl staggeredly glanced over the balcony, hesitantly speaking up before a permanent awkwardness settled in. "You know, the dumbest thing about this rumor is that I've never even had sex with anyone before. Yet somehow, me being the town whore is completely believable."

Spinelli's mouth felt dry after finishing her sentence. It was rare that she could almost _immediately _regret saying something, but that personal secret that had slipped out given her current inebriation definitely hit her like a brick to the skull.

She wasn't looking at him, but Spinelli felt T.J.'s gaze cut over towards her.

"...Seriously?"

She didn't know what she'd expected him to say, but that wasn't it.

"...Yeah?"

T.J. stayed silent for a moment, cocking his head as he snickered quietly. Spinelli's wall of defense went up almost immediately.

"Why is that funny?! Asshole!"

Her friend waved his hands calmingly. "It's not! I'm not laughing at that, I swear." He clarified. "I guess I was almost certain that you'd hooked up with an um-certain someone-junior year."

T.J. held one finger to his eyebrows, instantly making Spinelli frown angrily as he continued to snicker.

"I did not fuck _Bob _you idiot!" She snapped. "Jesus, T.J.. What the hell did you think was going on between us?"

The taller man shrugged. "I had no idea. I thought maybe you guys were like...a thing. Or maybe like-friends with benefits-or something like that."

Spinelli's mouth contorted into a disgusted frown. "Ugh. God no. He wishes." She said. "Believe me, I did not and never will have any sexual interest in Bob. Ever. Even if we had, I doubt Bob's feelings towards me would stay all 'buddy-buddy'."

"You don't think he could handle it?" T.J. asked.

"Hell no." The girl answered quickly. "Bob comes off all stern when he's really a big softie. He's got a huge ass heart and I know for a fact my cruel ass would fuck him up permanently."

T.J. chuckled at that, wiping the cool spot of maple beer from the corner of his mouth. He glanced back at her. "So who could handle you then, Ms. Heartbreaker? Lawson's equally cruel ass?"

Spinelli scoffed yet again. "No way. It'd have to be someone who already knows how I am and doesn't expect flying colors from my part." She answered. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly the most caring person."

He adjusted his hat and raised an eyebrow at his friend. "What, so someone like me?"

He'd meant it as a joke, but it had oddly come across as a valid question for both of them. At that moment, the balcony had gone so silent that even the thumping music from the floor below had seemed like a faint memory. Spinelli had gone pale white; she wasn't sure if T.J. could tell or not given the orange glow of the lanterns, but he might've been too dumbfounded to even notice himself.

Neither of them were sure how long they were going to sit in silence before one of them had to say something. Luckily however, just as the two both opened their mouths to speak, the sound of the heavy, slide and glass door popping open behind them cut them both short.

The two turned, and they both grimaced.

"And the devil finally makes her guest appearance..." Spinelli gradually stood up from her place, glowering intensely at the slender figure that approached her.

Ashley A. had somehow managed to simultaneously look both drunk and sober at the same time . She leaned staggeringly walked towards them, her long, honey blonde hair disheveled, but still wavy and voluminous. Her makeup was smudged and obviously sweating off her face, but it still gave her an odd intentionally rough look. Spinelli swore she would never understand the "devil magic" that was the Ashleys' appearances.

"Now, this wasn't an invite only party like we'd usually have." The taller girl spoke venomously. "But I can _definitely _say that Ashley Spin-Ugly wasn't invited."

"You need a little help? Huh ditzy?" Spinelli taunted. "You're lookin' a little lost. I'm sure I saw the rest of your She-Devil crew grinding on some juniors downstairs. Wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun now, would I?"

Ashley A. only sneered at her remark, and her eyes subsequently cut over to the red hat that just peeked over the back of her lounge chair. "You know T.J., I can stand you and Vince, but next time, please do us all a favor and leave your _dog_ at home."

Spinelli felt her entire body light up as she lunged forward, nearly coming face to face with the Ashley. "You wanna say that a little louder, Barbie? Cause I'm sure Madame Fist would _love _to hear that again."

Ashley A. glowered and leaned back away from the snarling girl. "You lay one finger on me and I'll a have a lawsuit filed so quickly your parents won't even know what day it is."

The smaller girl scoffed. "You think I'm scared of your daddy's lawyers? I would roundhouse kick your ass so fast you wouldn't even be able to remember your own goddamn phone number, let alone your parents'."

"I swear to God if you _touch _me Spinelli I'll-"

"You'll _what?" _

"Hey, hey! Enough!"

T.J. had finally managed to part himself between the two girls, forcefully gripping onto Spinelli's arm and yanking her towards the door.

"Don't give her the satisfaction of getting to you." He let out. "I can promise you, it's not worth it."

Ashley A. cocked her head at the two's odd closeness. "Oh, I'm sorry, was I interrupting something between you two?" She stingingly asked. "Wow T.J.. You sure do know how to downgrade."

Spinelli's head whipped around. "I swear to fucking God, shut up you goddamn cu-"

"Spinelli!" T.J.'s yank was much more forceful this time; the girl nearly collided with him as he reached back to pry open the glass door. "Let's just go. She's not worth it. Come on."

This was somehow, the second time in a twenty four hour timespan, that T.J. Detweiler had managed to pull Spinelli out of a near disastrous situation. Spinelli wasn't sure if she was just losing her grip on her anger, or if T.J. was simply being overprotective. Either way, she huffed as her taller friend practically shoved her back through the door and down the hall.

She was starting to think that maybe T.J. was making her go soft after all.

* * *

"And? That's it?" Gretchen gave me a confused look, and I nodded.

"Yeah. As soon as I was about to punch her T.J. grabbed me and pulled me out of the party like I was some kind of child or something."

"So you never answered his question, either?"

I pursed my lips. "Uh...no? I mean, not then. At least. That happened later on." I said. "_Way _later on, actually."

Gretchen leaned onto her arm, wiping her glasses off with her free hand. "Continue then, please."

I sighed heavily. "Fine. Let me try and explain this right.."

* * *

**soooo there we have it for this portion! I'm gonna try and make the next chapter(s?) a little bit more TJ centric cause Im noticing now that everything been kind of focused around Spinelli for the most part, so look out for that! **

**Tell me what you think of this chapter if you liked it! thanks for reading yall!**

**~DEUCES**


	5. Game Tickets and Secret Slip-Ups

**Before anyone says anything, yes I know it's been seven months, yes I know this is long overdue, and all I got to say is I tried dude. **

**I rewrote this like three times and finally went back to what I'd had originally, i have no idea what about this chapter was so hard to write, but I'll just pipe down now and give yall what yallve been waiting for.**

**~Enjoy**

* * *

"Whoa, Teej._ For real?_"

I yawned, leaning on my fist as Vince stared intensely back at me. "For real what?"

"Like, you for real asked Spinelli right then and there to be fuck buddies?"

His grin only grew wider as a I rolled my eyes. "Do you have to call it that? It sounds really blunt when you say it that way."

"Well what do you want me to call it? 'Horizontal Tango Partners'? 'Foreplay friends'?"

I waved my hand dismissively. "Dude-stop-God. You're making it worse."

Vince slammed his hand down on the wood beside him. "Well then? Answer the question man! Did you or did you not agree with Spinelli to be FWB's at that party?"

I shook my head. "Nah man. We were just talking about it casually and when I asked then I'd honestly meant it as a joke..." I ran my hand over my hair. "...but it definitely didn't come off as one."

"Sooo then, when _exactly _did Spinelli decide to hop on the T.J. Express?"

"Vince, I swear to God-"

"Okay! Sorry! Jeez..." He apologized. "I'll try to stop joking so much. Just tell me before I text her myself."

I lowered my brows as he flashed the most sincere grin and scooted closer to his computer. To be quite honest, some of these things were kind of hard to recall, especially in the right order. Everything over the last three months had happened so fast that I can barely remember what did happen and what didn't.

"It happened...Closer to the end of the month if I'm remembering correctly. Like late January." Suddenly, a memory clicked back into my brain, and I glanced back. "Right around your birthday, actually. That was the day I did it."

Vince gave me an incredulous look, and I grinned nervously.

"What? You were so excited for the game you barely paid attention to us all night." I defended. "We ended up spending a lot more...um...alone time together than I'd expected to. I'd been thinking about her all day so I guess it kinda just came back up at some point."

"'All day'?" Vince raised an eyebrow, leaning intentively onto his elbow. "Elaborate."

I sighed.

"Well..."

* * *

"Come on, come on, come on..."

T.J. tapped impatiently on the dingy faux wood table in front of him, viciously eyeing the parking lot through the windows. In any normal situation, T.J. would never call himself impatient. His father had a tendency of forgetting his after school activities when he'd been an underclassmen, so he was more than used waiting for someone who was unintentionally late.

This however, was much more important than getting home so he could finally lay down after a long day. This was Vince's _birthday_, and Spinelli agreeing to drive downtown that day sounded like a good idea at the time. His truck had been acting up and it would be a real hang up if it broke down in the city, so T.J. nonchalantly agreed.

What he hadn't anticipated however was Spinelli's tendency to severely underestimate time. It wasn't like she was completely oblivious to it, but if she got distracted long enough anyone in the gang knew that Spinelli could go from being five minutes behind to forty minutes late. In this case, it was unfortunately the latter.

"T.J.? Why are you still here?"

Menlo's voice surprised T.J., even in the bustling commotion of the restaurant. He didn't stand much taller than him but the teen's figure still towered over top of T.J.. His glasses were grimy from being behind the grill for so long and his "freshly washed" red shirt stained with grease spots and ketchup.

"Didn't you get off like a half hour ago?"

T.J. sighed, bringing his near empty soda cup to his lips as he rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, yeah I did."

Menlo raised an eyebrow, glancing behind towards his co-worker before cautiously sliding into the seat across from him. "So...? What are you still doing here? Don't you have to go to that basketball game for Vince's birthday or something?"

T.J. furrowed his brows. "I told you about that?"

"No you didn't, but Vince sure wouldn't shut up about it in Economics." Menlo answered. "I figured you were going too, seeing as how you two are practically married and all."

T.J. chuckled. "Yeah, I believe it. You have no idea how excited he was when we surprised him with the tickets. Gus and I swore he was gonna _actually _pass out."

"How'd you even manage to score courtside Admirals tickets anyway? You're just a bunch of whiny teenagers."

"Gus's dad used to be stationed with the Admirals' coach in Seattle. They were actually pretty close friends from what I understand."

Menlo scoffed. "Wow, that's pretty lucky."

"Hell yeah it is." T.J. agreed. "Once they showed him how obsessed with sports Vince is he wired us some tickets. Check and mate."

"I swear, LaSalle's sports obsession would concern me if I hadn't known him so long." Menlo said, shaking his head. "What time does the game start?"

T.J. frowned. "6:30."

"What? It's 6:10 now."

"Yeah I know. Spinelli was supposed to be here like thirty minutes ago."

At that, Menlo's nose crinkled worriedly under his glasses. "You actually trust her driving through rush hour city traffic?" T.J. deadpanned, and his manager shrugged. "What? I'm being honest. I've seen her pull off like a maniac from the school parking lot. If she drives anything like that on the road, well, it was nice knowing you Detweiler"

"Believe me, I'm not letting her try anything crazy while I'm in the car." T.J. replied. "I enjoy being alive, and I'm pretty sure she does too."

Menlo gave a distrustful glance, but shrugged again. "It's your funeral."

T.J. rolled his eyes in response, hastily checking his idle phone again. "At this point, I'm honestly just hoping she gets her in one piece. The roads are still pretty slippery from that downpour earlier and she doesn't really know how to drive in-"

"There you go again with all of that."

Menlo's interruption surprised T.J.

"...With all of what?"

The teen raised a brow. "Come on. Don't act like you have no idea what I'm talking about."

"Well unlike you Menlo, not all of us are smart enough to read minds. So if you don't mind dumbing it down a bit for my 'small Detweiler brain', I'd appreciate it."

Menlo snickered unable to resist the urge to laugh at someone insulting their own intelligence.

"I'm referring to all of this random overprotectiveness of Spinelli. Don't think I haven't noticed it."

The larger teen knit his brows in confusion. He knew that Menlo had a tendency to be a bit overly observant, but in this instance he'd honestly had no idea of what he was talking about. Since when had he been overprotective of Spinelli? He was a caring person, he _always _kept a close eye on his friends. She constantly made it _crystal _clear that she could defend herself just fine without the help of others, even if he didn't necessarily agree with that last part.

"What are you even talking about?" He asked. "She's my friend, Menlo. I think I have the right to be concerned about her safety, especially when it was practically monsooning earlier."

Menlo waved his hand nonchalantly. "True, you do reserve that right. But like I said before, there's a difference between 'general concern' and hyper-protectiveness." He gestured across the table. "You see, as your assistant manager, I am generally concerned for your overall safety while at work. Do you know how much paperwork both you and I would have to go through if you got injured while on duty?"

T.J. rolled his eyes. "Wow. And for a split second I almost thought you genuinely cared, Men."

"Don't get me wrong, I do genuinely care as a friend too." Menlo clarified. "The paperwork however is a tad bit more of a hair-puller..."

"Menlo, get the point."

The teen glowered as his friend rushed him along. "I am. My point is that you've been acting incredibly protective of Spinelli for the past few weeks and thought no one would notice. But you couldn't slip it past me." When he saw T.J. flash him a confused look, he continued. "For example, every time she comes in here with the gang while you're working, you automatically gravitate towards her rather than the rest of your friends."

T.J. twisted his mouth. "That doesn't mean anything-"

"_And _in Health class I've seen you practically put up a human wall between her and Lawson."

"Yeah, because Lawson's a fucking asshole who annoys the hell out of both of us. Not to mention he's got a wandering eye that's creepy as hell-"

"See, that right there!" Menlo interrupted. "That particular, subtle but overly observant behavior is exactly what I'm talking about. You can't tell me ever since that whole fiasco with him sophomore year, you don't keep a closer watch on her."

T.J. could see where Menlo was going with this. Even though Spinelli always claimed to be one of the biggest brutes in the gang, T.J. had always felt the need to keep a slightly tighter leash on her in particular.

It hadn't always been that way; T.J. that remembered in elementary school he would practically let _her _fight his fights for him. That however was back before puberty hit them like a freight truck in middle school and made the rest of the gang sprout up like redwoods in turn. Sure, Spinelli could still roundhouse kick both him and Vince into the next century, but being a guy, he knew just how much dude would go through to get to a pretty girl. That being said, horny teenage male persistence was something _definitely _to be on guard for.

T.J. hesitantly spoke up. "I do-"

"Exactly-"

"But that's because one, Lawson's a creep. And two, I _care._" He clarified. "You know, the way you're _supposed_ to treat your friends, Menlo."

Menlo lowered his brows dismissively. He was still, and probably always would've been, entirely convinced that he was right. T.J. had learned long before this that continuing to argue with him was pointless. All it would do was waste breath and egg Menlo on to reopen this argument later on for further debate, this time prepared with a twenty page essay and supporting slideshow for support.

T.J. had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he'd flinched when his phone alert went off.

"_**Get your ass outside, Detweiler."**_

"_Pretty agressive considering you're the one who's late." _

"_**You want a ride or not?" **_

T.J. slid his phone back into his pocket and gave Menlo a small nod before scooting out from the booth.

"Catch ya later Men. Don't work too hard."

Menlo smirked and followed after him. "Have fun, Casanova."

"Well, her royal lateness has finally arrived."

He could just barely see Spinelli's eyes through her sunglasses. She reached toward the gear shift as T.J. fastened himself into the passenger's seat of her Honda.

"Look, I got into a scruff with my Mom okay? I wanted to take her car cause it's less of a death trap but she whined about needing it later. We went back and forth for like a half hour."

"I believe you, don't worry." T.J. reassured, cranking the radio dial up. "You've been listening to Rihanna the whole way here?"

She scoffed. "Please. My brother got that CD jammed in there years ago. Now the radio's broken too so, welcome to Rihanna circa 2010 hell."

T.J. chuckled and slumped back into his seat. Watching both the road and listening to Spinelli talk was going to be a challenge, T.J. already knew that. She wasn't a horrible driver. Just, definitely not the best. She'd only officially had her license for about half a year, and boy had that half a year been eventful. No major accidents, but definitely a rear end (that T.J. knew could have easily been avoided if she'd just put her phone down for two seconds) and a tire blowout that scared the shit out of both of them.

"You know you just ran a stop sign."

"It was in my blindspot."

"Your blindspot in _front _of you?"

"Listen Teej you wanna drive this damn car cause we can switch right now if your panties are in that much of a bunch-"

"No, no-I'll pipe down. It's your car." He let out a deep sigh as he looked away from the road and over at her. "Did Gretch ever decide if she was going?"

Spinelli scoffed loudly at that, shaking her head in response. "Yeah, I asked her earlier today and she said Vince could go fuck himself."

"_Ouch._" T.J. said. "She's still that mad at him?"

"Well, to be fair she has the right to be." Spinelli spoke up. "How would you feel if someone literally blew you off for a basketball game?"

"Pretty heated I guess." He answered. "I know he didn't mean any harm."

"Yeah probably not, but Gretch said they'd been planning to go out to her dad's lake cabin for a while on his birthday so they could spend the day together."

"Eighty percent of which would've been banging if we're being honest."

"True, but she had plans to surprise him with something 'special' but then you and Gus had to swoop in with Admirals tickets."

"Hey listen, we had no idea. If we'd known about Gretchen's plans we would've held way off on them." Spinelli scrunched her nose and pouted in the way that let T.J. know she was holding back on saying what she wanted to. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. It's just weird."

"Mind clarifying a bit?"

"I mean, like I said, it's just weird. We all knew Gretchen and Vince were into each other but neither of them want to actually date cause they're both way too busy. Now they're just in this weird place where they're not a couple but they're not really 'single' either. It's weird."

T.J. pursed his lips, only responding in a shrug. "Well, wouldn't it be weirder if they were official? Like you said, they're both so crazy busy that it'd fall apart in weeks. I think it's better for them this way."

"You have a point." Spinelli agreed. "Gretch told me to go with you guys today but I'm still pissed at Vince for her. Don't forget that shit for a second."

"By all means, be as pissed as you want, he deserves it." T.J. said. "I-Break-BREAK SPINELLI! RED LIGHT."

The car came to a screeching halt that jolted both of them forward in their seats. Spinelli inhaled sharply as she clutched the wheel with a death grip. "Reflexes are slow today. Sorry."

Rather than spark up another argument on her driving skills, T.J. shook off the near-death encounter they'd just had and continued with what he'd been saying before.

"So...you'd be totally against what Gretchen and Vince are doing right now?"

"What, for me?" T.J. nodded, and Spinelli cocked her head. "I don't know. It's not like I've got a bunch of close dude friends lining up to bone me you know."

"Well..." He trailed off. "Say you did. What would you do?"

_Detweiler, what the hell are you doing right now? Can you even hear yourself? _

"Didn't we already have this conversation?" Spinelli asked.

"Kinda, but we were drunk as hell and high as shit. So it doesn't count."

_T.J., listen to your conscience and shut UP. _

Spinelli hesitated. "Like I said, I don't know. It depends."

"On?"

"On the person? I guess? Jesus Christ T.J. why do you care so much?"

_T.J., be very fucking careful in how you respond to that. _

"...I'm just curious, that's all. Chill Spin."

_Bullet dodged. _

He couldn't see her eyes through her sunglasses, but T.J. assumed she was rolling them.

"Well since you wanna be so nosy, what would _you _do, huh Teej? What would you do if one day I randomly came up to you and was like 'Hey, let's bone.'"

And where was that screaming voice in his head when she'd asked that? Gone for lunch apparently, given that static seemed to be the only thing ringing through his mind.

"I mean...I'd be down."

_Correction, bullet fatally kills you. Congrats. _

T.J. was pretty sure he'd tuned out from reality for a good thirty seconds after answering her, because he'd completely missed her initial reaction and now only saw her lips tight in silence. He'd fucked up. He'd really fucked up and he knew it far too well. _Did I really just admit I'd totally bang my best friend if she were okay with it? _

He was almost glad he couldn't see her eyes, because he knew they probably weren't too pleasant looking either.

"Oh look, we're here." Spinelli stomped on the breaks as she flew into the nearest parking space, nearly choking T.J. against his seatbelt. "Let's go before it gets too late."

Just as quickly as she'd said that, Spinelli was out of the car and walking towards the arena, not even bothering to look back to make sure she hadn't completely choked T.J. to death. He inhaled deeply as he pulled his seatbelt off and pushed open the passenger's side door. His eyes managed to spot her over a blue SUV and winced at how insanely fast she was hauling ass to escape the awkward situation he'd created.

_You really did it this time, Detweiler._

* * *

T.J. was convinced that Spinelli was nearly dead at this point.

Why he let her escape into the afterparty by herself, he had no clue.

To be fair, she was still avoiding the hell out of him like she had been all night. During the game the minute she'd seen Vince and Gus cheering from the courtside seats, she'd bolted over to the open seat between them and perched herself down in it. Every attempt that he'd made to talk to her during it was fielded off with a one word answer and little to no eye contact. Jeez, had he really freaked her out that much?

That wasn't T.J's main concern at the moment however. He was primarily focused on _finding _Spinelli before she drank herself into a coma.

At first, T.J. was ecstatic to be invited to a basketball team's after party. Even more so impressed that Gus' dad was close enough friends with the coach to earn that kind of reward. Receiving Gus' text reading that Spinelli was "Out of freaking control." however was less than reassuring. The crowd in the club was so thick that he could barely even see ten feet in front of him; the cave-like dim lighting wasn't helping either. With every couple flashes of colored spotlight across the dancefloor he could see a few heads in front of them, all of which were too tall to be Spinelli.

He'd tried texting Gus for her location in the club to no avail, his phone had either died or been swallowed by the hurricane that was the crowd.

"This is fucking insane." T.J. grumbled to himself as he shoved his phone into his back pocket. Everyone always had this way of disappearing at huge parties until it was convenient for them. This had to have been what Spinelli had felt like at the Ashley's party.

"T.J.!"

He nearly jumped as he heard Gus' voice call his name and a hand following on his shoulder. His gaze trailed up to his friends as he turned completely around.

"T.J.- I'm not sure if you got my text-the service in here sucks-but Spinelli-"

"I know Gus, I got it. How bad are we talking here?"

Gus winced. "The last time I saw her she was letting people do body shots off her, and then some random guy started dancing with her, but then I lost her in the crowd."

"Oh shit, that's bad."

"Yeah, it is Teej!" Gus agreed. "You need to find her and get her keys off her so you can take her home."

"I can't take her back to her house like that-her parents would lose their shit."

"Well then just find her and get her out of this hell hole at least. She definitely doesn't need anymore drinks in her system."

"No worries Gus, I'll have her out of here in one piece." T.J. assured him. "You find Vince in the meantime. I'm pretty sure he's probably just as far gone."

The two shared a nod of agreement before breaking off in opposite directions. T.J. hadn't planned on this night becoming a search and rescue mission, but he definitely wasn't about to let his friend do something majorly stupid.

It took about five minutes of asking random buzzed strangers to figure out Spinelli's approximate location. "Last seen by the bar with Kevin", whoever that was.

His face finally lit up when he saw her exactly where'd they'd described her, sitting by the bar arm wrestling some hefty blonde guy who had to be at least twice her size. Spinelli did look wasted as hell, probably one hour or so away from being in a cold sweat and bent over a toilet. Her hair tie was nowhere to be found, and her raven waves were plastered against her forehead in neck, probably damp with sweating from dancing.

"Chhheck and mate!" She cheered as she slammed the man's hand down on the bar counter. "Tolja I was stronger than I look."

"You right shortstack," He shook his hand. "You got some muscle on ya."

"Yer damn right I gossum muscle." Spinelli leaned into his face. "I coul' flip you like n' omelet!"

T.J. initially planned to approach slowly in order not to cause a scene, but the moment he'd seen the mystery guy run his hand up Spinelli's thigh it immediately set off red flags in his head. Time to be the bad guy.

"Spinelli!"

She looked confused and squinted at T.J. as he approached. "T.J.? Wheredjoo go? I lost all three of ya."

The blonde man, who T.J. now assumed to be Kevin, gave him an annoyed glare as he stepped closer to his friend. "Gus is looking for Vince. You're both fucking plastered."

Spinelli scoffed. "Plastered? M' not plastered. I jus' know how to havv a good time."

"Yeah, she sure does." T.J. had failed to notice that Kevin still hadn't taken his hand off Spinelli's thigh, and Spinelli for some reason didn't seem to care as it trailed higher.

T.J. finally felt that overprotectiveness that Menlo had told him about earlier kick in, and in seconds he'd yanked the blond's hand from anywhere near his friend's body.

"Hey, what the hell's your deal man?" Kevin snapped at his touch, snarling like a wild dog.

T.J. rolled his eyes. "My deal is my friend here needs to leave before she pukes all over your suede jacket. She's a lightweight, case you couldn't already tell."

Kevin scoffed, taking a gulp of what he assumed to be beer. "If she wants to have a good time let her have a good time, buzzkill."

Spinelli nodded as well as she could. "Yeah-lemme havv a good time Teej! Jeez. Yer not my friggin' dad."

"Shit, I might as well be." Before either of the two could protest, T.J. found himself once again, forcibly lifting a thrashing Spinelli out of her place. "She needs to go. Point blank."

"She doesn't have to go anywhere she doesn't wanna-"

_Jesus dude will you let it go? _

"She's seventeen, hotshot."

And just like that, Kevin's eyes widened at the struggling girl in his arms and immediately looked away, turning back towards the bar in embarrassment. The legal scare tactic was always a last resort, but it did the trick every time.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." He tightened his hold. "Come on Spinelli, work with me here. Calm down-I'm trying to help."

He'd only managed to get her to the nearest door before she finally broke free from his grasp, growling and barely possessing enough of her motor skills to stand up straight. Drunk Spinelli was one thing, _shitfaced _Spinelli was a completely different one. He'd only heard of her being like this one other time from Gretchen, and he hadn't even been there for that ordeal. She wiped her wet bangs out of her face, cheeks turning a bright red flush out of what was probably a mixture of the alcohol and anger.

"You can' even lemme have fun! Yer not my fuckin' dad T.J. Quih' fuckin actin' like it!"

T.J. rubbed his temple. "You're literally wasted, Spinelli. I need to take you back to my place before you-"

"Before I whah?" She cut him off, stomping closer.

"Before you-"

"Oh wait-" She interrupted him again, this time letting a wide smirk form across her cheeks. "I know. Ya' wanna take me back ta your place so-so you can bang me like yew wahnned huh?"

T.J. nearly choked on his breath at that remark, completely in disbelief that had actually come out of her mouth.

"_Huh?"_

She snickered. "Yooooouuu said you wanna bone me and now you gotcher chaaaance."

T.J. was at a complete loss for words at that remark.

_Holy shit. She's really fucking gone. She doesn't even know what she's saying anymore. _

"Spinelli-come on-don't."

"Don' whah?" She asked, playfully biting her lower lip. She'd shifted entirely from angry and yelling to uncomfortably flirting in two seconds flat. "I'm juss bein honest."

Before he knew what was happening, T.J. felt himself get yanked downward by the brute force of a drunk 5'3 girl. Her lips stopped right at his ear as he tried not to lose his balance at such an uncomfortable angle. Spinelli was speaking so low at this point that even he barely heard what she'd said, but she'd definitely made sure to completely fry his brain when it finally left her lips.

"Ya know, if you really wanna fuck me that bad, I'd be down too."

* * *

"You're LYING."

"Dude, for the eighth time I'm not freaking lying."

"No-no no no, I refuse to believe it." Vince shook his head. "I refuse to believe that Spinelli _actually _said that to you."

"I didn't fucking believe it either, Vince! I've literally never seen her act like that before. It was like an Ashley possessed her or something."

Vince chuckled. "Well, she was drunk as hell."

"She was way past drunk, Vince." T.J. stated, rubbing his forehead. "She literally did nothing but puke as soon as we got home."

Vince placed his hands on his cheeks in awe. "Awww, and I bet you held her hair back for her like a good boyfriend, huh Teej?"

T.J. twisted his mouth at that, and Vince raised a brow. "What, too much?"

He shook his head, running his hands back through his hair again. "Nah. It's just...well...I'm getting to that. Just let me keep going, okay?"

* * *

**Ha hA now we're finally gettin somewhere. I can finally actually get into th of this now cause I got the build up out of the way. PHEW**

**Slide on in those reviews if ya feel like it, or just drop a like or fave if ya have the time. **

**Anyways.. back to the drawing board!**

**oi**

**~DUECES**


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